James Pattersno 2010 Photo: books_authors CC BY-ND 2.0
Sample of authors
Patterson, James
The American author, James Patterson, was born and grew up in Newburgh in the State of New York. His father was an insurance clerk and his mother a teacher. After state schooling, he studied at Manhattan College in the Bronx, New York, and took his B.A in 1969. He started at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and got his M.A in English in 1970. He then dropped his studies, moved back...
Literary figures
Piet van der Valk
Gender: Male
An independent, eccentric and short-tempered detective superintendent with the police in Amsterdam, the main character in a suite of police novels by Englishman Nicolas Freeling. Piet van der Valk is arrogant, but also critical of society and empathetic. He is married to Arlette with whom he has two sons and an adopted daughter. He is killed during an investigation, and his wife takes over the...